Machine for cutting leaf tobacco



F eb. 24, 1959 Filed Nov. 9; 1954 P. Q. R. SCHREIBER MACHINE FOR CUTTINGLEAF TOBACCO 3 SheetS- -Sheet 1 I nventor Atfof'ney Feb. 24, 1959 P. R.SCHREIBER 2,874,739

MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEAF TOBACCO Filed NOV. 9, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2Inventor Attorney P. R. SCHREIBER 7 2,874,739

MACHINE FOR CUTTING LEAF TOBACCO Feb. 24, 1959 Filed Nov. 9, 1954 sSheets-Sheet s F/G'SJ Attorney United States Patent Claims priority,application Great Britain November 10, 1953 3'Claims.- or. 146-119) Thisinvention concerns machinesin which leaf tobaccois fed between conveyorsto a mouthpiece, through which it passes to be cut into shreds by kniveswith cutting edges moving in a cylindrical path which nearly touches thefront face of the mouthpiece. It is desirable for the top member of themouthpieceflogether with the front of the upper conveyor beneath whichthe tobacco passes, bacco emerges at substantially uniform densityalthough the quantity between the conveyors may fluctuate. ...Preferablythe tobacco passes between an upper. and a lower belt conveyor, and thetop member of the mouthto rise and fall while under load so that the to-.1

2,874,739 Patented Feb. 24,

preferred construction of machineembodying the features of thisinvention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine with parts broken away;

Figures 2 to 5 are sections on the lines II-- II, III'IIl,

IV-.- -IV and V-V in Figure 1; and Y Figure 6 is a fragmentary frontview in the direction of the arrow VI in Figure 1. 1

- Leaf tobacco is fed into the space 2 between two converging conveyorbelts 4 and 6 which carry the tobacco to a mouthpiece 8 and at the sametime compress it so 1 that it is driven through the mouthpiece as aplug. As

the plug emerges it is shredded by knives on a cutter 9 which revolvesabout an axis 16 in bearings carried by arms 17. Thecut tobacco fallsinto a hopper 20 and. is carried away. Details of the cutter are morefully deseribed'in application Serial No. 467,846 filed Novempieceand'the front roller or rollers of the upper conveyor are so constrainedthat as they rise and fall the lower face of the top member remainsparrallel to a fixed datum plane, while the front lower edge of the Topmember moves in an are substantially. concentric with and havingsubstantially the same radius as the path of the cutting edges..1 w iThe principal object of this invention is to improve the mechanism whichpermits the upper conveyor and the top member of the mouthpiece to riseand fall. Other objects will appear from the following description.

According to one feature of this invention, while the top member and thefront of the upper conveyor .are constrained in this way, the rear ofthe upper conveyor is constrained by a conveyor frame to remain at aconstant distance from the front of the upper conveyor and isconstrained by pivoted levers to move in an arc in a direction nearlyparallel to the direction of feed of the tobacco. Thus the opening intowhich the tobacco enters remains of constant depth.

According to a further feature of this invention the top member is fixedat each end to a plate which lies in a vertical plane and extendsrearwards from the mouthpiece, each plate being connected to a mainframe of the machine by a pair of parallel links which are pivoted attheir rear ends to the plate and at their front ends to the main frameand which do not extend forward of the mouthpiece. This is an importantdifference from an earlier arrangement described in U. S. Patent 2,464,-896, in which links extend to the vertical plane through the axis of thecutter, and so render the cutter inaccessible. The distance betweenpivot axes of the links is substantially equal to the radius of thecylindrical surface.

Preferably the plates lie outside side walls which confine the tobaccoin its passage between conveyors, and the upper conveyor has outer framemembers which are pivoted to the plates, and inner frame members whichlie between the side walls and support the front of the upper conveyorand are rigidly connected to the outer frame members.

According to a further feature of this invention pressure is applied tothe top member by a ram pivoted to the top member and working in acylinder pivoted to a main frame of the machine above the mouthpiece.

The accompanying drawings show an example of a ber- 9, 1954. r

The machine has main side frames 22, and within these' side frames areside walls 24 which are also stationary and which confine the tobacco inits passage between the conveyors 4 and 6. At the front, the side wallsare prolonged by a member 26 which forms the bottom and sides of themouthpiece (see Figure 6). i

The top of the mouthpiece is formed by a top member 28 which can riseand fall between the sides of the member 26. The top member 28 includesa cross bar 30 which is fixed at each end to plates 32 which extendrearwards :from the mouthpiece between the side walls 24. and the mainside frames 22. Each plate is connected to a main side frame by a pairof parallel links 34 and 36 which are pivoted at their rear ends at 38to the plates and at their front ends at 40 to the main side frame. Thedistance between pivots 38 and 40 is equal to the radius of the cutter9. The top mouthpiece member '28 is thus constrained to move in an arcsubstantially concentric with the cutter 9. In the drawings the topmouthpiece member is shown at the uppermost limit of its movement duringoperation of the machine. In its lowermost position the mouthpiece isnearly closed. When the machine is at rest, the top mouthpiece membercan be raised further to permit inspection and cleaning.

The lower conveyor belt 4 runs over rollers 42 and 44 supported by theside walls 24 and main frame, and is driven by means not shown.

The upper conveyor belt 6 runs over rollers 46, 48 and 50 supported by aconveyor frame consisting of two outer frame members 52 and two innerframe members 54 rigidly connected together by cross bars of which oneis shown at 56 in Figure 5. The outer frame members lie between the sidewalls 24 and the plates 32 while the inner frame members lie within theside walls. The cross bars clear the top edges of the side walls. Thefront roller 46 is in three lengths 58, 60, 62 journalled on a shaftpassing through the inner frame members 54. The outer frame members 52are pivoted to the plates 32 by pins 64 coaxial with the front roller46. Thus the front roller partakes of the motion of the top mouthpiecemember.

The rear roller 50 is fixed to a shaft 66 which is journalled in theouter frame members 52 and in levers 68 which are pivoted to the mainside frames 22 at 70. Thus as the front roller 46 rises and falls, therear roller 50 is constrained to remain at a constant distance from thefront roller and to move in an are nearly parallel to the direction offeed of the tobacco. The shaft 66 carries a gear wheel 72 which mesheswith a driving pinion 74 coaxial with the pivots 70.

The roller 48 serves as a tensioning roller and its axis can bedisplaced slightly relatively to the conveyor frame by mechanism 76. Thelower run of the upper conveyor wardly from each side of belt is backedby a plate 77 carried by the inner frame members 54.

Pressure is applied to the top mouthpiece member by a ram 78 which ispivoted to the top member at 80 and which works in a cylinder 82 pivotedto the main side frames 22 at 84, When the machine is in operation, thevupper part of the cylinder is connected by a pipe 86 to a reservoir notshown, which may have ten to thirty times the volume of the cylinder andwhich forms a closed system into which compressed air is admitted, tomake up leakage, through a constant-pressure valve. Thus the ram issubjected to a downward force which increases slightly as the top memberrises.

When the top member is to be raised for inspection or cleaning, thelower part of the cylinder, which is normally open to atmosphere, issupplied with compressed air through a pipe 88, while the pipe 86 isopened to atmosphere and cut off from the reservoir.

I claim:

1. A machine for cutting leaf tobacco into shreds comprising a mainframe, a mouthpiece having a top member, an upper and a lower conveyorfor feeding tobacco through the mouthpiece, a rotary cutter, armssupporting said rotary cutter from a portion of said frame lying asubstantial distance below the level of said mouthpiece, knives mountedon said rotary cutter, said knives having cutting edges generating acylindrical surface of revolution, portions of the surface of revolutionbeing immediately adjacent the front of the mouthpiece, means mountingthe top member of the mouthpiece and the front of the upper conveyor forsubstantially vertical movement, the front lower edge of the top membermoving in an are substantially concentric with and having the sameradius as the cylindrical surface of revolution, a plate disposed in avertical plane and extending rearthe mouthpiece, means mounting the topmember on said plates, a pair of parallel links connecting each plate tosaid main frame, said links being pivoted at their rear ends to saidplates and at their front ends to the main frame, said front ends beingrearward of said mouthpiece,

2. A machine according to claim 1 including a cylinder pivoted to saidmain frame above the mouthpiece and a pneumatic ram working in thecylinder and pivoted to said top member for applying pressure to the topmember.

3. A machine for cutting leaf tobacco into shreds comprising a mainframe, a mouthpiece having a top member, an upper and a lower conveyorfor feeding tobacco through the mouthpiece, a rotary cutter, knivesmounted on said rotary cutter, said knives having cutting edgesgenerating a cylindrical surface of revolution, portions of the surfaceof revolution being immediately adjacent the front of the mouthpiece,means mounting the top member of the mouthpiece and the front of theupper conveyor for substantially vertical movement, the front lower edgeof the top member moving in an arc substanti'ally concentric with andhaving substantially the same radius as the cylindrical surface ofrevolution, a plate disposed in a vertical plane and extendingrearwardly from each side of the mouthpiece, means mounting the topmember on said plates, a pair of parallel links connecting each plate tosaid main frame, said links being pivoted at their rear ends to saidplates and at their front ends to the main frame, said front ends beingrearward of said mouthpiece, sidewalls confining the tobacco in itspassage between the conveyors, said plates lying outside said sidewalls, outer frame members on the upper conveyor, said outer framemembers being pivoted to the plates, and inner frame members which liebetween the side Walls and support the front of the upper conveyo'r andare rigidly connected to the outer frame members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS460,268 Ross Sept. 29, 1891 2,464,896 Schreiber Mar. 22, 1949 2,690,777Korber et al. Oct. 5, 1954

